Richmond Kickers Upset Sporting Kansas City to Join Chicago Fire and FC Dallas in Semifinals of 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Jul 12, 2011

Los Angeles Galaxy and Seattle Sounders Battle for the Remaining Spot on Wednesday, July 13

CHICAGO (July 12, 2011) – The Richmond Kickers upset Sporting Kansas City to become the only USL PRO team to advance to the semifinals of the 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Kickers will join the Chicago Fire and FC Dallas in the semifinal round. The Los Angeles Galaxy travel to face Seattle Sounders FC to battle for the remaining spot on Wednesday, July 13, at 7 p.m. PT.

The Chicago Fire defeated the New York Red Bulls with a convincing 4-0 win at Toyota Park. Due to severe weather and power outages in the Chicago area, the game was pushed up two and a half hours to a 5 p.m. CT start. The Fire opened scoring in just the seventh minute when Marco Pappa found Christian Nazarit at the top of the box. Nazarit took one touch before Dominic Oduro ran onto the ball and buried a low drive for the first goal of the game.

In the 48th minute, Daniel Paladini crossed towards the back post, finding the head of Yamith Cuesta who nodded the ball into the goal. Just three minutes later, Orr Barouch fired a shot from the top of the penalty area which deflected off Stephen Keel before bouncing over the goal line. In the 69th minute, Barouch scored his second goal of the game after charging up the left where he took one touch before firing a low drive, netting the Fire’s fourth and final goal. The Fire earned their second shutout of the Open Cup and advanced to the semifinals.

Richmond, the only USL PRO team to reach the quarterfinals, has already earned the $10,000 prize for the Division III club advancing the furthest in this year’s tournament. The Kickers continued their run with the 2-0 win against Sporting Kansas City to enter the semifinals.

The match was scoreless into the second half, when the game was temporarily suspended for lightning in the 65th minute. Less than one minute after the restart, Shaka Bangura scored for the Kickers and in the 83rd minute, David Bulow converted a penalty kick to score his 14th career U.S. Open Cup goal and make it a 2-0 upset in Kansas City.

FC Dallas advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 win against Real Salt Lake, scoring on both sides of the half. In the 18th minute, Jair Benitez smashed a free kick from 30 yards out, sending the goalkeeper diving, but the ball landed in the upper right corner for the first goal. In the 54th minute, Jackson Gonçalves scored with a strike from distance, giving FC Dallas the 2-0 win.

The Los Angeles Galaxy take on the Seattle Sounders in Tukwila, Wash., to conclude the quarterfinal round Wednesday, July 13, one day after their originally scheduled match. The two met in the same stage during last year’s tournament, with Seattle prevailing 2-0 on the way to their second straight Open Cup title.

The semifinal round takes place on Tuesday, Aug. 30, with the teams battling for their spot in the 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 4. The winner will earn a $100,000 cash prize, while the runner-up will collect $50,000.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which is recognized as U.S. Soccer’s National Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. The tournament has crowned a champion for 97 consecutive years dating back to 1914.